H. Beam Piper (March 23, 1904 – c. November 6, 1964)

Piper is one of my favorite science fiction writers. I like his work almost as much as Heinlein and the attitudes displayed in their works are similar. He was also a gun nut before being a gun nut was cool. Too damn bad he took his own life in 1964. The bits and pieces I read about him over the years indicate he was an individualist and the suicide was a matter of going out on his own terms. Too bad because based on his body of work his best was yet to come.

Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Piper. His novels and stories are available in electronic formats at Project Gutenberg.

UPDATE: Links fixed.